PILOT Carl Whiteley, who died in a plane crash with his wife Kathryn, "always put safety first", his daughter said.
Sarah Chatman, one of the couple's two daughters, was giving evidence at their inquest at Jersey, where the crash happened.
Mr Whiteley and his wife, both 55, lived in West Hallam.
In a statement to the inquest, Ms Chatman described the couple as "the very centre of our family".
They were arriving in Jersey following a holiday in France after leaving East Midlands Airport on August 30.
The inquest heard they died when their plane ditched into the sea as it approached the airport after Mr Whiteley became disorientated by fog.
The inquest on Friday heard that Mr Whiteley, who was flying the Cessna Crusader from Dinan in France to Jersey, may have made a wrong turning and in trying to quickly correct the mistake may have caused the plane to stall.
As the plane had already begun its descent there was no time for him to recover.
The inquest also heard evidence that the plane had been taken to France to fix some faults, including with the auto-pilot, which had been malfunctioning. Despite the technical problems, this was not deemed to have been a factor in the crash and the coroner, deputy viscount Mark Harris said that having heard the evidence he had "no concerns" with the airworthiness of the aircraft.
Ms Chatman's statement said: "The plane was kept in Newquay and regularly flew to Jersey to refuel.
"I was aware that there was some pre-arranged work to do on the auto-pilot and that they had been due back on Wednesday 4 September.
"He (Mr Whiteley) was a very confident pilot who always put safety first. They were the very centre of our family."
Coastguard manager Russell Mathew spoke of how he co-ordinated the search and rescue mission, which at one stage involved 15 vessels, including ships from the Royal Navy, the RNLI and commercial boats that had stopped to help.
Very little of the wreckage was found, meaning that an accurate investigation into why the plane crashed couldn't be given. The search mission also discovered the bodies of the couple.
The inquest was also told that just a few minutes before the plane crashed, Mr Whiteley had contacted air traffic control.
His message revealed that he had miscalculated the approach to the runway. He said: "Erm, sorry ma'am, can you give me the frequency, sorry I've done...completely gone wrong way round there just one moment."
The plane disappeared from the radar just a few minutes later.
Paul Hannant, senior inspector of air accidents for the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, said Mr Whitely was "obviously an experienced and responsible pilot" but that instead of turning right, he mistakenly turned left and there was a limited height for the pilot to regain control.
